www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Canonization of Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Saints...

Curious about this...

In the Orthodox Church, how is someone proclaimed a saint (what is the process)? An Orthodox priest told me once that they do venerate the saints of the west, but only pre-schism. Why not ones post-schism? What about saints of the Eastern Catholic Church?

Which leads to another question...

What's the process for the Eastern Churches in communion with Rome to canonize a saint? Can anyone tell me about any canonizations of saints the east since communion was re-established (who)? Has the process always been the same, or has it changed over time?

Ok, there's my 20 questions for the day.

Blessings!
Mary

Some Orthodox venerate post schism Western saints. Most do not however, for the same reason why most Roman Catholics don't venerate post schism Eastern Orthodox saints - they view each other as schismatics. Many Eastern Catholics venerate post-schism Orthodox saints though, the Russian Catholic Chuch has a huge amount on their calendar. I personally venerate a few such as St. Nil Sorsky and an Icon of a miracle of the Theotokos that took place on Mt. Athos in the 1630s called "she who is quick to hear".

As far as Ukraine is concerned Eastern Orthodox don't venerate Eastern Catholic saints because they think we are schismatics and some of our Ukrainian Catholic saints were martyred by the Eastern Orthodox (likewise Catholics murdered and therefore causeed the martyrdom of a few Eastern Orthodox saints).


Canonization for us is the same as the Roman Church, I believe this has been the case since we re-entered communion with Rome. A couple famous post-Brest Ukrainian Catholic saints include:

Saint Josaphat Kuncevyc
Blessed Fr. Emilian Kovc, martyred by the nazis
Blessed hieromartyr Clement Sheptytsky , martyred by Soviets

There are a heck of a lot more btw, mostly martyrs. Josyf Slipyj is supposed to be canonized but the Polish Catholic hierarchy asked that it be delayed for some reason, disgraceful since I am an ethnic Pole

The Orthodox system of canonization is not as formal in format as that of the Roman Church. Different jurisdictions handle the matter in a varied format. The concept of acclamation is still alive in the Orthodox Church. Different segments of the Orthodox Church may be at odds over a specific saint. For example, the Russian Church in Exile canonized the Russian imperial family in the 1970s; the OCA and the Russian Church proper did not canonize the family until several years ago. There was an honest disagreement whether Nicholas and Alexandra died for political or religious reasons or some combination of both.

I've noticed this difference in Orthodox and Catholic canonizations:

In the Catholic ceremony of canonization, the life of the blessed who is about to be canonized, is first read out, after which a prelate formally asks the Pope to canonize the person. In response, the Litany of Saints is intoned. After the Litany of Saints, the Pope reads out the formula of canonization. Only then can the new saint be liturgically venerated as a canonized saint.

In short: Someone is first proclaimed by the Church as a saint, before the saint can be liturgically venerated as such.

I am not as familiar with the Orthodox rite of glorification, but from what I've read, the ceremony (which, I think, is so much more glorious than the Roman rite of canonization) begins with magnification being sung to the new saint. The ceremony itself is one long liturgical veneration of the saint. Only after the ceremony is the decree of glorification read out formally.

In short: liturgical veneration is followed by the formal proclamation of a holy person's sanctity.

I think that the Orthodox ceremony is a better reflection of "lex orandi, lex credendi", the rule of prayer is the rule of belief. The Catholic ceremony, on the other hand, follows the reverse principle.